How to run CCleaner automatically

Summary : CCleaner won't run itself, unless you tell Windows to make it do so.

http://i.imgur.com/TFT2s.png
(Credit: Piriform)

If you've never used CCleaner or a similar tool before, then chances are your computer is running slowly, displays errors every so often, and has much less free space than you'd expect (for those of you who just got your computers recently, that's cheating). CCleaner is a tool for Windows that can remove clutter from your PC, such as temporary Internet files and cookies. The problem is, you have to remember to run the cleaner regularly to really benefit from it. If this sounds like a problem for you, just follow these eleven steps to automate the process.

http://i.imgur.com/tzTgM.png
(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)
Step 1: Download and install the latest version of CCleaner.

http://i.imgur.com/kp51i.png
(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)
Step 2: Run CCleaner and set the cleaning areas to your liking, then select Options from the list to the left.

http://i.imgur.com/RilSd.png
(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)
Step 3: Under the Advanced tab, make sure Save all settings to INI file is checked.

http://i.imgur.com/1NwWK.png
(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)
Step 4: Open the Start Menu and enter Task Scheduler into the search box. Run the Task Scheduler program that will pop up.

http://i.imgur.com/EV6Ve.png
(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)
Step 5: Click on the Action header in the menu bar and select Create Basic Task...

http://i.imgur.com/5wOFX.png
(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)
Step 6: Follow the steps of the wizard to create the task. In the first window, name the task and give it a description to help you remember what it is later.

http://i.imgur.com/9J6xf.png
(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)
Step 7: On the next page, select how often you want this to run. Depending on how much you browse the Internet or install/uninstall new programs, you'll likely want either daily, weekly, or monthly.

http://i.imgur.com/LKqEn.png
(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)
Step 8: Set the exact time and, if applicable, day you want the task to run.

http://i.imgur.com/UbbJa.png
(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)
Step 9: Select the option labeled Start a program on the next page.

http://i.imgur.com/wx5ix.png
(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)
Step 10: Hit Browse and navigate to the directory you installed CCleaner to. Add /AUTO to the text field labeled Add arguments.

http://i.imgur.com/2LNq4.png
(Credit: Screenshot by Nicole Cozma)
Step 11: Review the information on the last pane and be sure the time, day, and path to CCleaner are correct. Click the Finish button to finalize your task.
Now CCleaner will run automatically at the time/day you chose. Hopefully you'll notice your computer speed and frequency of errors improving and staying awesome for a long time...all without needing to manually run anything!

Wouldn't it be easier to just put:

Code:

---

ccleaner_path\CCleaner.exe /AUTO

---

in a batch and place it in the startup folder inside start menu?

I don't think people need to run this at a defined time.

This is not for me because I usually have tens of tabs on firefox open at anytime and if I run this at a random time(when FF is closed) or on startup, all the tabs will be gone :( and I don't want that to happen!

I don't get why you guys (some of you at least) are using utilities of this kind. All this program does is to remove some files in temp dirs and some browser left-overs which can be either be configured to not store them at all (browser cache, cookies, temp files, history, tabs etc.) or removed by hand (or powershell/batch).
The 'Thumbnail Cache' should never be removed with the exception of corrupted and incorrect icons (ex. my computer gets the icon of my docs. just an example). Removing it would rebuild the .dll but it's a bad habit to do so and may cause problems.
And it's also a bad habit to clean the registry because doing so will break the contiguous area into fragments (similar to hdd fragmentation). Think of it as a highway, by deleting stuff you remove a piece somewhere in the highway. The system will continue to build the highway but the gap from the remove you made will always be there.

You have a better chance of increasing performance by removing the event logs which is on my system 68.000 logs (from 2011/3/29).

I use CCleaner myself, although recently I turned the amount of stuff I "clean" down, for the reasons Razor mentioned. Things like the icon and font caches, prefetch, etc. shouldn't be touched excepting special cases.

And it's not a program I'd run automatically at all. I like to be in control of what my computers do.